Along with creating IN THE STARS this year, I have also been doing birth chart readings for my participants and others.

I knew, going into this year, that I would be doing a lot of studying, analyzing, content creation and teaching when it comes to astrology... which meant a whole lot of brain work.

I don't know about you, but too much head-space does not make a holistically happy Hali.

For many of us creatives, learning is more thorough and long-standing if we have time for spontaneous contemplation, observation in the field of life, and plenty of our creative practice + play time - whatever that may look like.

A little challenge I gave myself, to break the potential rigidity of information overload this year, was to make a simple intuitive mandala inspired by each chart I was interpreting for awhile. A low-pressure, fun-to-make body of work, you might say.

I wanted to be sure to shake my focus out of my head and into my body and the movement of color. Just because.

Because it helps center me and keeps my intuition and instincts fresh and nourished.

That little creative practice exercise I gave myself ended up cracking open my process of seeing and reading birth charts in a way I didn't fully anticipate.

I spend the time studying the chart and making my notes, of course - in all the logical, mindful ways - and then I get out my water, colors and mixed-media paper and let all the specific astrological details fade away for awhile.

More often than not, something crucial about the chart and its messages becomes clearer to me in those few moments of creative play and surrender, when I open myself not to looking for anything in particular, but to seeing what I may not already be seeing.

It all sort of falls into focus, in the beautiful living mystery that it is.

I find it to be like praying, communing, remembering that something greater is always unfolding through us when we show up to how we best do what we do in our own skin - even if it's an approach that might not make sense to anyone else - or even to our selves, at times.

It goes beyond the words, beyond what can be seen or controlled or mentally deduced. Just beyond... into that realm where what IS shines with the spirit of what ever was and the breath of what is possible.

And I don't know about you, but that's the kind of stuff that stokes my creative fire of hope and motivation within, and warms the ol' engine for any good act that might have a chance of coming through this body and life I am living.

With the world as it is, and so much coming to a head, we each need our ways of reaching that sacred connection more than ever.

May we remember to use, visit and share those tools and ways that ignite our sense of interconnection, as we navigate our actions, decisions and the power of our choices and voices.

Aside from the soul-passion rambling above...

If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen me share images and videos of quite a few of these intuitive birth chart mandalas this year. The warm response has meant the world to this artist's heart.

The process with them has taken on a life of its own, and has evolved into several stages for each, including a session or two with more detail, layers and line work. That's something I often do in my art journaling pages that feels like a meditative practice in presence.

A relationship of listening and responding really forms with a piece when we meet more than once.

I've been blessed with the pleasure of doing several unexpected commissions for the mandalas this year, as well - like the ones on this post - and people often message me asking me if this is a possibility. I didn't really see that coming from my practice either, and I'm grateful and happy others feel connected to them.

Here is a video of making the three you see here...

I do *love* making these, but I have a lot of other commitments right now, so I'm taking on commissions at a slower pace than I would if I had magical powers of productivity. I'll continue to offer these to those who contact me through email to be on my waiting list, and my newsletter subscribers first.

I've come to really love making sets for couples and families... I love all that color together, with each so unique.

I will have to share a flip through of all of them that I've made this year at some point. Maybe as an end of year retrospect. There is a progression in the level of detail, for sure... and I just may be getting more adept at playfully wrangling the water and inks as time goes on.

You can see a few more mandala samples right now on my homepage. And this one below may be one of my personal favorites (for another artist soul in love with mystery and healing)...

... though overall, I really do have a soft place for each of them, because I get the gift of connecting with the unique birth chart that belongs to the Soul the mandala is singing to.

No matter what our journey, behavior or life might look like on any given day, we truly are all Creator's beloved children, with the spark of spirit alive in each of us.

Oh, and the number one technical question I get asked by curious creatives inspired by the mandala videos so far?

How do you keep the color in the circle?

That's the easiest part, and a good rule of thumb for a free-flowing creative practice in general:

Start with the container or form (in this case, a circle of water), and then just let your colors flow within.